1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to user interfaces in mobile communication devices. Particular aspects of the invention relate to methods of providing skins for the user interface of a mobile communication device.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
With some software written for desktop and laptop computers, various aspects and features of the user interface, such as graphical elements, icons, animations, colors, texture, fonts, sounds, etc., can be easily changed all at the same time. The changes can be accomplished using data files referred to as “skins”, which can be easily downloaded from the Internet and installed without altering the functionality of the software. Skins are available for the Netscape 6 web browser at www.netscape.com, and for the Windows operating system software and various applications software at www.topdesktop.com. Most of the skins are available for free. Even for a skin that is only available for a fee, there is nothing to prevent the skin from being copied and forwarded or distributed to others without payment to the party originally providing the skin. This inhibits the development of an effective commercial market for skins.
The circumstances for customization or personalization are quite different in the field of mobile communications devices, such as cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), web pads, pagers, cordless telephones, handheld computers, etc. Customization of the user interface is limited to ringing tones, screen savers and simple logos, usually determined by a user profile maintained by the operator of the wireless communication network which the device accesses for communications, and/or exchangeable covers and keypads for the housing of the device such as described in EP 1091540.
Mobile communications devices have been growing rapidly in computing power and can now perform many functions in addition to voice telephony (such as a phonebook, personal organizer, etc). In particular, they are capable of requesting, receiving and displaying information consisting of alphanumeric text or graphics. An example of alphanumeric text is a short message service (SMS) in GSM, which permits the user to send and receive short text messages transmitted through a cellular public land mobile network (PLMN). More recently, mobile communications devices have been developed which allow the user to access documents or graphics data from the Internet or elsewhere using the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) over wireless communication networks.
WAP enabled devices allow information to be accessed from various remote servers offering data services such as banking, stock quotes, and weather forecasts. Data content is provided in a markup language, such as wireless markup language (WML) or extensible hypertext markup language (XHTML). WML is configured to allow data to be displayed as a deck of individual cards which are of a size suited for display on the relatively small display screen typical. A micro-browser software application is typically provided in the mobile communication device to receive the data and display it in different screens. The user interface of the mobile communication device provides some way for the user to navigate between different display screens.
Since mobile communications devices typically use displays of relatively small size and/or resolution, the degree of user satisfaction depends greatly on the ability to display data in a manner preferred by the user. Since mobile communication devices are typically battery powered, they generally use black and white displays rather than color displays which consume more power. This creates also a disadvantage insofar as color cannot be used to enhance the user interface.
Because of the relatively fixed architecture of mobile communications devices, a user cannot install or change software and there are no skins or other possibilities for the user of a mobile communications device to alter the display of information as there are in the field of desktop or laptop computers. Customization of the user interface according to user preference is limited to ringing tones, screen savers, logos and the use of exchangeable covers for the housing of the device, such as described in EP 1091540.